It Seems Like I Fell into a Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 7-1

Volume 1 Chapter 7.1

It was the day of the preliminary meeting for the territorial negotiations regarding the Borne Kingdom. It was also where I would make my official appearance as lead.

With servants in tow, I made my way to the chamber in the emperor’s place where the meeting would be held.

I was met with an unusual sight at the chamber entrance. A stocky, young man with a fair complexion was arguing with some soldiers. I got closer and asked,

“What is the problem here?”

“Ah, this person doesn’t have permission to enter the meeting but he was making a ruckus…. We-We’ll hurry and correct the situation now!”

I stopped the soldier as he tried to lift the young man onto his shoulder.

“What is the problem?”

This time, I directed my question to the young man. He stared at me with an expression that said he didn’t know who I was. It was the soldiers who were put into an awkward position instead.

“Pardon us, Your Highness.”

Hearing the soldiers’ words, the young man’s face morphed into an expression of horror. He looked up at me in disbelief and began backpedaling as though he dreaded the idea of being in the same place as me for even one second.

“Pardon…… me. I will not…… do this again. Then I will be on my-.”

“Wait.”

He had piqued my interest. More specifically, I was interested in the object he had hidden behind his back once he had learned I was the princess.

“Give it here.”

I extended my hand toward the young man. His face practically screamed ‘I’m screwed’ as he reluctantly came closer. He slowly took something out from behind his back.

The object that the young man had been hiding was a tattered book ripped here and there like it had been handled by careless hands.

Honestly, it looked more like a couple pieces of paper bound together than it did a book. I turned over the first page and discovered Eclot’s name written there.

“……..”

Soon after, I returned the mass of papers to him.

“Bring that and follow me.”

“Forgive me, Your Highness! Just this once! Please don’t say to burn it! ….. Pardon?”

I laughed out loud.

“I said follow me.”

He looked at me with eyes full of bewilderment as I stepped into the chamber. He hesitantly trailed after me.

“You are here, Ria.”

The emperor had come as well. This was a bit unexpected.

“I am only participating so do not worry about me.”

The emperor was sitting comfortably in the corner.

I greeted the emperor with my eyes then took my seat at the front.

“We are much obliged, Your Highness. We are honored that you are here with us.”

The nobles, who had arrived early, stood up one by one to greet me before sitting back down in their seats.

Besides one young woman who was sitting next to me, they were all advanced in years. The age of those seated got younger the further away they were from me.

I noticed Eclot among their ranks. When I greeted him with my eyes, he bowed his head in return.

The secretary stood at attention next to me.

“The subject of this meeting is the territorial negotiations regarding the Borne Kingdom , therefore with regard to the Rothschild Empire, an allied nation,….”

“Wait. Before we start, there’s something we need to clarify first.”

I said while raising my hand, and the secretary went silent. The secretary began sweating.

“From what I hear, Sir Pacis hasn’t yet been rewarded for his distinguished services.”

There was a reason that I hadn’t seen Eclot at the start of the victory celebration.

“What is the reason?”

One old man smiled with a face that said ‘as expected of a young princess.’ and offered a response. I think I remembered them saying he was the prime minister and only duke of the empire.

“Well, he is Your Highness’s concubine. From the beginning, concubines were granted neither title nor land. It is an old practice, and such practices exist for a reason.”

“And what is that reason?”

“That is……”

The old man looked around the hall while smiling. Once everyone had smiled back in agreement, the old man looked back up at me.

“If concubines held power, how could there be effective governance of the nation? Due to a former emperor granting a favored concubine land near the capital-.”

“Do you believe me incapable of looking after a single concubine?”

I asked intimidatingly, my displeasure obvious. The old man shut his mouth for a moment.

“So, your pitiful excuse for a proper reason is based on mere possibility. You must be joking. Are you sure the real reason is not that you are fearful of there being less land for all of you?”

Fiefs granted to the spouses of royalty were usually inherited by their children, resulting in more and more land coming into the possession of individual members of the royal family. Although there were cases of land and money leaving by way of a spouse’s relatives, they only made up a small part.

Anyways, that wasn’t the important thing here. I wasn’t happy about it, but I had to make these people believe I was dead-set on pushing this through.

“Your Highness! Please compose yourself.”

The old man spoke to me as he would a child throwing a fit. His efforts to calm my immediate anger were impressive indeed.

“Your Highness, am I right in thinking that you desire to reward your concubine in some way? Concubines are allowed luxury goods so-.”

“I desire to discuss how one who has made a great contribution to the nation should be compensated. Do you think I am here to play lovers?”

“However…..”

“However? I have been entrusted with full authority over matters related to the war by His Majesty. Will you still argue with me!”

“Nevertheless, the matter of bestowing a title or fief requires His Majesty’s approval to….”

At that moment, the emperor, who had been quiet up until now, spoke up.

“I will not say anything about this matter. Talk it over with the princess.”

The emperor being here in person was unexpectedly turning out to be a good thing. Because of that, the nobles had one less reason to continue being stubborn.

“So he says. Now what will you do? Will you say that you neither heard of nor saw Sir Pacis’s achievements during the war?”

“…….”

That’s right, you can’t.

With a limited number of soldiers, he had accurately deciphered the hidden motives of the neighboring empire, which he took advantage of to form an alliance. He was thus able to solve the problem of the troops’ defense and supplies, and he had continued on to win every battle he fought near the end of the war.

They said that on the days that Eclot personally stepped onto the battlefield, the enemy’s morale would drop dramatically. He had that much presence during the war.

“Then, let us ask what is his own will.”

The old man had been more than happy to treat Eclot like he was invisible this whole time, but now he pulled the knight into the center of the dispute. Since the duke knew Eclot better even than I did, it meant he was confident that Eclot wouldn’t ask for any compensation with regards to his victory.

Fine, I had predicted as much.

“Come forward, Eclot Pacis.”

At my call, Eclot rose from his seat and came to the front. He gave me an almost imperceptible shake of his head. He probably meant he was fine.

But what to do? I’m not fine,

I responded inwardly.

The old man stood from his seat.

“Do you wish to ignore time-honored custom and receive a title and fief suiting your military accomplishments?”

I almost snorted, but I stopped myself. Eclot looked up into my face. He was asking me how he should answer.

That….. That wasn’t part of the plan.

I had thought that he would assert that we needed to follow custom. But he was telling me that he would wholeheartedly do what I asked. That he would do whatever I asked, whether I nodded or shook my head.

First, I responded to the old man.

“What an unpleasant way of speaking. You certainly look ready to question his loyalty to the crown should he say he does.”

“We shall see where his heart lies once we hear his answer.”

This old snake. He fit the description of someone who had managed to keep his power and a firm hold over the duchy despite looking at the age to complain about joint pain.

“Answer. Do you wish it? Or do you not?”

Eclot broke his silence.

“Your Excellency whom I respect, why do you seek to hear my lowly opinion with two dignified members of the royal family and the other nobles here in front of you?”

It was then.

The stocky young man who had been tensely standing behind me ran out and bowed.

“Your Highness. May I say something?”

That’s right, I was wondering why he wasn’t coming out. He’d been patient, considering his personality.

When my expression remained composed despite the sudden turn of events, the duke’s eyes narrowed.

“Tarshish!”

A middle-aged man called to the youth in a shrill voice, before clapping his hands over his mouth in shock at his own outburst. It was obvious to me that the man, who was seated far away from me, was the youth’s father. They looked identical. The man’s face was white as a sheet as his gaze narrowed in on his son.

“Your Highness, that man….. does not seem to have the right to participate.”

I ignored the old man’s words.

“Speak,”

I said, and Tarshish immediately lifted his head while still bowed on the floor. Our eyes met. He pressed his lips together and sat up, looking like he had resolved himself for what he was about to do.

Seeing as how the usually expressionless Eclot looked surprised, it confirmed that they knew each other. Tarshish spread open the mass of paper in his white-knuckled hands. And then he addressed the room.

“That day, we would have scattered.”

They were song lyrics.

That day, we would have scattered.

That day, we would have broken into pieces.

That day, we would not have seen anyone’s back.

Today, we will all die.

Today, today, we will follow you.

And so, that day, we will meet you again.

That day, that day.

“I was a scribe who went on this past campaign.”

Tarshish said, and glared at the group seated at the far end. They were the people who had received titles because of the war, and now sat side by side in their uniforms.

Each avoided his gaze with a flustered expression. Among them was the man I’d assumed was Tarshish’s father.

“The song I just read to you was the song that the soldiers would sing every morning while burying their dead comrades. I was there. I witnessed all of the horrors and recorded them. I did it to communicate the horrendousness of war to posterity.”

The old man scowled like he was displeased and turned his head away. He knew that there would be no advantage in interrupting Tarshish at this junction.

“But I was too naïve. Those who died there, and those who came back, fought while carrying the nation on their backs. But if this nation that they thought had experienced the war alongside them is actually so ignorant to their pain and so stingy regarding their exploits then who would show loyalty to the crow-.”

“Tarshish.”

I cut him off.

“State your purpose clearly.”

Tarshish instantly realized his mistake and changing his mind, implored,

“Please, recognize Sir Pacis’s distinguished military service!”

I stared at the top of Tarshish’s head and thought.

If I was the original princess, you would have died the second you made that mistake, little boy. But I’m not that woman. So, it looks like I saved you.

“Seeing this child, I have even greater conviction. I am pleased that he was able to overcome his fear. And I am seeing once again how enormous Sir Pacis’s influence was on this war. What do you all think?”

The nobles from this war glanced at each other. Then one of them snapped up with an expression of firm resolve.

“Please, recognize Sir Pacis’s distinguished military service!”

After that, several people stood and bowed their heads, shouting,

“Please, recognize Sir Pacis’s distinguished military service!”

Tarshish’s face was glowing as he shouted again,

“Please, recognize Sir Pacis’s distinguished military service!”

“Duke, do you still believe your view is reasonable?”

“……..”

Whether or not Eclot received recognition for his services wasn’t important to the old man. It was ‘who’ got to have their way in the end. In short, this was a sort of battle of wills.

“I understand what you are trying to say. Nonetheless…. What do you all think? Go ahead.”

The old man looked around, his voice tinged with regret.

“That is…. Granting him the same reward as the others….”

“May be a tricky matter…..”

While everyone was saving their breath and glancing at me, the young woman, who had seemed bored since before, grinned and suddenly addressed the duke.

“You took your tenth concubine recently, correct?”

“Why are you bringing that up right-.”

“There have been rumors going around that you gave her a house, land, and that now, it seems like you are about to move the ocean to your front yard for her as well,”

The woman said, and cackled to herself. But when no one laughed along, the woman rubbed her neck, embarrassed, before nodding toward me.

“This is our first meeting. I am Sir Pacis’s representative Karant Pacis.”

Representative?

Karant said that and studied my reaction. Seeing me look unsure, she grinned and looked at Eclot.

Wait.

Pacis?

“I thought I would be farming in the mountains my entire life, but he suddenly brought me in to be the marquess, saying I was a distant cousin. After the position of marquess was emptied out of the blue?”

Why was she saying it like it was a question? The woman laughed to herself again. I heard Eclot let out a sigh.

In any case, that meant the woman was a marquess.

“Then in recognition of his contributions, a medal and honorary title….”

Finally, the duke was conceding one step.

“Then what you are saying is, everyone is in agreement about Sir Pacis’s contributions?”

“Yes. However-.”

“Can I take it that if he wasn’t a concubine, he would have received the highest title and compensation out of anyone who was involved in this war?”

“I would not have been in opposition if that was the case. But since that is his current position we need strict-.”

“Good! With His Majesty and the nobles present, I declare that from this moment Eclot Pacis is stripped of his title as concubine.”

Silent shock spread throughout the meeting hall. Not one person made a loud sound, but everyone wore an identical expression of literally being stabbed in the back.

I looked at Eclot. He looked shocked as well. His eyes were opened wide.

This was what I had wanted to tell him when I called him aside. It had been put off because of all the misunderstandings, so he was finding out this way. But didn’t surprises make you feel good?

I was going to set him free. I was going to grow him into my strongest weapon and highest-flying wings.

“Lord.”

The old man slowly turned his head toward me at my call.

“I don’t think there’s anything left to say.”

“H-however, a former concubine…..”

“You must know how to take responsibility as the only duke of this nation. If you do not, I can only doubt your qualification as duke.”

The old man, Duke Dominat, made an expression conceding his defeat.

“Then, shall we discuss what and how much to bestow upon him?”

Now, Eclot Pacis had truly returned.